# Intelligent Game Shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** reality-or-game-show\ **Created:** [November 1, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-game-shows/1009545 "2024-11-01T16:09:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-game-shows/1009545/21 "2024-11-01T20:12:18Z")
Calling out Hard Quiz - an Australian game show. Four contestants in a series of elimination rounds, about half based on their own special topic, which can be pretty much anything, and the rest being general knowledge. Main difference is the banter between host - comedian Tom Gleeson - and the contestants. Pacey, funny and playing for a token big brass mug. Personally, I think a good guide for quiz shows is the moment that the final prize value is more than a novelty item or any cash prize, it does something bad to the watchability of the show. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-game-shows/1009545/22 "2024-11-01T20:26:09Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > Personally, I think a good guide for quiz shows is the moment that the final prize value is more than a novelty item or any cash prize, it does something bad to the watchability of the show. Fans of Jeopardy might disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Cerridwyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Cerridwyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerridwyn)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-game-shows/1009545/23 "2024-11-01T21:13:53Z")
On the game show thread you shared, I could not get past the long intro music, introduction of comedians on the show & the reintroduction of a piece of fun from the comedian’s life. It was 17:35 min/sec before they started the game.😄 ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-game-shows/1009545/24 "2024-11-01T21:17:01Z")
That’s what’s nice about youtube, you can skip around. I usually skip to the beginning of the prize category (the first round where they bring something in), then jump to the first actual task and I usually skip the parts where Alex is tallying the scores. I like the games and most of the banter, I’m generally not all that concerned about the scores. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-game-shows/1009545/25 "2024-11-01T21:18:26Z")
I get that 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown takes a while to start the game, but really, the game is just an excuse for the comedians to do their thing. If the game is all you’re interested in, you probably want to watch the regular, non-funny Countdown show. ---
**Author:** ![Cerridwyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Cerridwyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerridwyn)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-game-shows/1009545/26 "2024-11-01T21:21:27Z")
😁L​:rofl:😂O​:rofl:😂L​:grin: Can you not just laugh here? 😆 I gues not. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-game-shows/1009545/27 "2024-11-01T21:24:08Z")
> [@GailForce](#): > > I find most of them, from The Price Is Right to Jeopardy, pretty unchallenging and unfocused. Sometimes I don’t know the Jeopardy answers (questions), and often I don’t know them instantly, but I find the game’s structure uninteresting, a mere hodgepodge of trivia. And that’s among the more challenging of TV game shows. I suspect that, on the whole, U.S. game show producers have generally decided that, beyond _Jeopardy!_, there isn’t much interest in game shows that feature questions to which the typical viewer isn’t likely to even have a good guess at the answer. My gut tells me that, in the U.S., at least, part of the appeal of knowledge-based game shows (_Wheel of Fortune_, _Family Feud_, even _The Price is Right_) is that a typical viewer will know (or at least have a good idea at) many of the answers, and thus, feel good about their own knowledge and intelligence – and, maybe, feel a little smug when they know an answer and the contestant gets it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-game-shows/1009545/28 "2024-11-01T23:27:27Z")
> [@GailForce](#): > > I find most of them, from The Price Is Right to Jeopardy, I agree on most games shows, but not Jeopardy. Some of those questions are hard. You may not like the format, but it definitely qualifies as an intelligent game show. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-game-shows/1009545/29 "2024-11-01T23:38:46Z")
If it’s still around, **Cash Cab** with Ben Bailey was (is?) a good game show. One episode had a guy go the entire round and thanks to the editing it was almost a nail-biter. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-game-shows/1009545/30 "2024-11-01T23:42:48Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > If it’s still around, **Cash Cab** with Ben Bailey was (is?) a good game show. The original, with Bailey, finally ended production in 2020 (though I have no doubt that reruns will be available somewhere, in perpetuity). It was revived last year, with Adam Growe (who had been the host of the Canadian version) as the new host, and apparently runs on AXS TV (a lower-tier cable channel). ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-game-shows/1009545/31 "2024-11-02T00:05:01Z")
_Jeopardy_ being a hodgepodge of trivia is a feature, not a bug. I’ve been enjoying _The Floor_. I like the huge and wide-ranging categories and the visual recognition aspect. Contestants are shown pictures in a category and have to quickly identify what our who it is (sometimes with words missing from a phrase). There’s a little bit of excessive taking between rounds, but it’s mostly focused on players’ tactics (which neighbor to challenge - each one ‘owns’ a category) and strategy (go big for daily prizes or lay low to last longer). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-game-shows/1009545/32 "2024-11-02T00:25:23Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > _Jeopardy_ being a hodgepodge of trivia is a feature, not a bug. Definitely, but clearly (as per the OP), YMMV. I’ve taken the online tryout test for _Jeopardy!_ several times, and even though I have a head for trivia and knowledge, and kick my friends’ and relatives’ asses when we play trivia games at home, I have enough blind spots in that knowledge base (particularly in literature, and TV shows or music from the last 25 years) that I simply don’t score well enough to even be considered. One needs to not only be a nerd and a knowledge geek, but a very well-rounded one, to be successful on the show. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-game-shows/1009545/33 "2024-11-02T04:46:42Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > I’ve been enjoying _The Floor_. Same, I like that they inherit the opponents category when they win, which they may know nothing about. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > even though I have a head for trivia and knowledge, and kick my friends’ and relatives’ asses when we play trivia games at home, I have enough blind spots in that knowledge base (particularly in literature, and TV shows or music from the last 25 years) that I simply don’t score well enough to even be considered. Sometimes I will know all the answers on the board and sometimes I don’t know a single answer in a not so knowledgeable category. So sometimes I feel like a genius and sometimes a giant dunce. It’s why I like wheel better, I always feel like a genius. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-game-shows/1009545/34 "2024-11-02T15:34:15Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > I’m always amazed at the range and breadth of topics on [University Challenge](https://youtu.be/7WZT1NUKFAs). [“What is the record number of marshmallows stuffed up one nostril?”](https://youtu.be/Wi5SJKI6RpU) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-game-shows/1009545.md?page=1)